cel@CITHEX.CALTECH.EDU.UUCP (01/27/87)
This appeared in the "TeXhax" arpa mailing list, and (somewhat) answers
the questions that have appeared about DVI->PostScript conversion programs.
There is another "public" program floating around, known as dvi2ps, which
is really set up for Unix type systems, and hacked versions of it for VMS.
I suspect that the programs mentioned below (Dr. Beebe is on the revision
list for dvi2ps too...) are lineal descendants of dvi2ps, and probably
less buggy.
I haven't sent off for these yet, so I can't claim to know how good they
are, or provide FTP's. To keep Dr. Beebe from being deluged it may be
a good idea to pool some of the requests....
---Chuck Lane cel@cithex.Caltech.Edu
@cithex.bitnet
@cit-hex.arpa
818/356-6779
>Sender: TEX@Score.Stanford.EDU
>TeXhax Digest Saturday, January 17, 1987 Volume 87 : Issue 4
>From: "Nelson H.F. Beebe" <Beebe@UTAH-SCIENCE.ARPA>
>Subject: Public Domain TeX DVI Driver family
>To: texhax@SCORE.STANFORD.EDU
>
>At the 1985 summer TeX Users Group meeting at Tufts
>University, I announced the availability of a family of TeX
>DVI drivers. This note is being broadcast to TeXHaX since
>it is evident that many people are unaware of it.
>
> ##################################################
> These drivers are PUBLIC DOMAIN and NOT
> copyrighted. If you get them and commercialize
> them, remember that I will be in competition
> giving them away for free.
>
> Enhancements and ports to new systems are expected
> to be returned to the author for further
> redistribution.
> ##################################################
>
>This driver family is written in a highly portable subset of
>C, with preprocessor conditionals used to select code
>fragments which are of necessity dependent on the host
>machine, compiler, or operating system. The code supports a
>FAMILY of devices, so that each driver presents a uniform
>Unix-style command-language interface to the user, and with
>the exception of \special{} support, produces identical
>output subject only to variations in device resolution.
>
>Font files in .PXL, .GF, and .PK formats are supported,
>including invisible fonts (which have broken other DVI
>driver programs). Default font format lists and directory
>search paths are established at compile time, but can be
>overridden at run time on all systems. A font substitution
>mechanism is also supported to handle the common case of
>fonts being unavailable in a particular magnification or
>style.
>
>A new feature added in December is run-time selectable
>virtual font caching, which maps entire font files into the
>address space at file open time. This should improve
>response when font files reside on a networked file system;
>the many small character packet requests otherwise entail
>substantial real-time delay across the net.
>
>Environments in which this family is already running:
>
> ------- ---------------- --------
> Machine Operating System Compiler
> ------- ---------------- --------
> DEC-20 TOPS-20 PCC-20
> IBM-PC PC-DOS Microsoft V3,V4
> VAX VMS 4.x VMS C
> Unix-Box Unix CC
> ------- ---------------- --------
>
>Unix systems on which this family runs include Sun,
>Integrated Solutions, 4.xBSD VAX, Gould, and
>Hewlett-Packard. On the IBM PC, compilers from Lattice,
>Wizard, and Aztec have also been tried, but have regrettably
>proved too buggy.
>
>Devices supported:
>
> Screen displays:
> DVIBIT Version 3.10 BBN BitGraph terminal
>
> 300dpi Laser printers:
> DVIALW PostScript (Apple LaserWriter)
> DVICAN Canon LBP-A2 laser printer
> DVIIMP Imagen imPRESS-language laser printer family
> DVIJEP Hewlett-Packard Laser Jet Plus
>
> Dot-matrix printers:
> DVIJET Hewlett-Packard Laser Jet 75dpi
> DVIM72 Apple Imagewriter 72 dpi printer
> DVIMAC Apple Imagewriter 144 dpi printer
> DVIMPI MPI Sprinter 72 dpi printer
> DVIO72 OKIDATA Pacemark 2410 72 dpi printer
> DVIOKI OKIDATA Pacemark 2410 144 dpi printer
> DVIPRX Printronix 60h x 72v dpi printer
> DVITOS Toshiba P-1351 180 dpi printer
>
>Documentation:
> 75-page manual in LaTeX (primarily for installers)
> 15-page user documentation in Unix man style (but set
> by LaTeX), TOPS-20 INFO, and GNU EMACS TeXinfo
> formats.
>
>Distribution:
> Available on IBM PC-DOS floppy disks (about 6), or 1600
> bpi 9in magtape in TOPS-10/20 BACKUP/DUMPER format, VAX
> VMS BACKUP format, Unix tar format, and ANSI D-format
> from
> Dr. Nelson H.F. Beebe
> Center for Scientific Computing
> 220 South Physics
> University of Utah
> Salt Lake City, UT 84112
> USA
> Tel: (801) 581-5254
> EMAIL: BEEBE@UTAH-SCIENCE.ARPA
> BEEBE@UTAH-CS.ARPA
> BEEBEN@UTAH-RUAC.ARPA
> Send tape or floppies for a copy. Financial
> contributions are always welcome, but not required.
> The family is also included on my <PLOT79> graphics
> distribution, since all new documentation for that uses
> LaTeX.
>
> Eventually, an FTP mechanism may be established for
> sites with ARPANet access. Source + documentation
> amounts to about 1.5Mb, and executable code for each
> device amounts to 80Kb-150Kb, depending on device and
> host machine; this is probably too large for EMAIL to
> Bitnet and Usenet sites.
>
>Future work:
> Major pieces of work remaining to be done:
> (a) merging in support of PostScript resident
> fonts;
>
> (b) addition of more \special{} support to the
> laser printer drivers; currently only DVIALW
> supports a \special{} command.
>
> (c) addition of support for windowing systems on
> bitmapped workstation displays; X-windows support
> is in progress locally.
>
> Volunteer contributions are most welcome!
>